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DanceAbility Orientation (5 Days)

December 13th to 17th in Puebla, Mexico, taught by Alito Alessi. Click here for more information.

In 2018, more 5-day (or 30 hour) Orientations are
planned in the United States (June, in South Carolina), Germany, Chile (in April), and Argentina. They are
for dance educators and others wanting immersion in the DanceAbility method. Inquire with us for details.

4-Week Teacher Certification Course, 2018:

The next DanceAbility Teacher Certification Course
will be July 1st to 27th, 2018, in Vienna, Austria, hosted by the
incredible ImPulsTanz Festival.

Hello, friend or future friend!

We hope your fall is going nicely! Read on to see what we are up to (and read the left red sidebar for upcoming trainings). Contact improvisation news is at the bottom. If you do
NOT live in Oregon, please send us an email about where you live so we
can send news most relevant to you. Happy Holidays!

DanceAbility International, directed by Alito Alessi, and UO
senior dance majors, directed by Shannon Mockli, will co-produce a
collaborative concert, “Spectrum”, on December 7, 2017 at 7PM at the Dougherty
Dance Theater in Gerlinger Annex at the UO Campus also featuring choreography by Alito, and by Jana Meszaros. Admission is free. DanceAbility
International is a local dance company that focuses on bringing people of all
abilities and disabilities together through dance and movement. The senior undergraduate
dance majors have been studying the DanceAbility method this term alongside
community dancers with disabilities. The concert will be one hour long, with no intermission.

We talked with Ruth, a community member and wheelchair-user
who has been participating in the UO dance class which Alessi has been guest
teaching. She shared a fascinating story about activism, disability and being
forced to leave her home in Cameroon. This is a summary of our conversation.

“I am from Cameroon in Central Africa. I contracted polio at
age three. My family put me in an institution, where I grew up. After my
release, as an adult, I became an activist for women's rights and disability
rights in the country.

I left Cameroon because of the worsening scarcity of the
medical supplies and care I needed, and because of an increasingly unstable and
violent political situation, with the arrest of hundreds of dissidents,
censorship, and shutdowns of the internet in an attempt to stifle further dissent.

I arrived in the United States seven months ago, and I
settled in Eugene. I have always wanted to find a platform to motivate women
with disabilities to appreciate their bodies and what they can do with them. This
desire is a perfect fit with DanceAbility. I am honored and humbled, and quite
thrilled to participate in "Spectrum", since it is my first time
performing. I enjoy using choreography in my own way. There is no right and
there is no wrong. Being in a setting where everything is okay has sparked
light in me. I will do my best, so I can inspire women to do the best they can,
no matter what their disability.”

This exchange this term has connected UO dance students to
DanceAbility International, giving the student’s skills to work with dancers
with various disabilities. The presentation will include performance pieces by
DanceAbility Company’s award-winning choreographers and will feature a
presentation by the UO dance students synthesizing their experience with Alito
and the DanceAbility community.

Thanks to our company dancers who will be featured:

Maria Antonieta "Toni" Alvarez

Karen Daly

Kelcie Laube

Jana Meszaros

Bakul Willard

"Spectrum" and DanceAbility Dancer Karen Daly to Launch Her New Book, Joy Ride!

From the intro: Joy Ride
takes us
through a decades-long search for something Karen Witt Daly felt she
had lost, something vital to her aliveness and far more significant than
losing her right leg to cancer at age 11.

With the
discovery of a form of improvisational dance,
clouds of doubt vanish and protective walls crumble, clearing the way
for Karen to eventually understand the meaning of her search, then live
the true purpose of her life.

Contact Improvisation News

Weekly Contact Improvisation Jams, Eugene

These
are every Wednesday, 6:00 - 8:00pm, at Xcape Dance in the Knights of
the Pythias Building, 420 W. 12th Ave., at 12th and Lawrence,
year-round. Joint Forces Dance Company's Sara Zolbrod is one of eight
Contact Collective members that runs these.

Jams
start with a Guided Warm-Up or Mini-Lesson for the first half hour
(6:15 - 6:45 sharp), and then switch into open contact improvisation
dancing after that. $5 - $14, sliding scale. If you will need access
accommodations (like the chair-lift up the stairs), please be in touch
ahead of time.